How Does Love’s Week 1 Debut Compare to Rodgers in 2008?
CHICAGO – With a 24-5 record in the ancient rivalry, Aaron Rodgers owned the Chicago Bears. On Sunday, Jordan Love did, too.
The Green Bay Packers’ first-year starting quarterback won his debut performance. Backed by two big catches by Aaron Jones and a superior defensive performance, the Packers rolled to their ninth consecutive victory in the series.
Love wasn’t great. Nor was Rodgers in his debut, though. Love finished 15-of-27 passing for 245 yards with three touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 123.2 passer rating. But he moved the chains on third down and avoided turnovers – two parts of what’s typically a winning recipe.
“It feels great,” Love said. “Obviously, that was the plan for us, coming in here and starting the season off the right way, and I think we did that in all phases. The second half for us was huge today, and you could just feel that momentum switching. It just feels good to get a win. You can never take it for granted, so to start a season off like that feels great.”
Love threw touchdown passes of 8 and 4 yards to Romeo Doubs and a 35-yarder on a screen to Jones.
“A lot of poise. Jordan’s been like that since I got in last year,” Doubs said. “I thought he did really good today. I know he knows, just like I do, you’ve got to keep building on that.”
Love had four completions of 30-plus yards: 51 yards on screen to Jones, the 35-yarder to Jones on a short pass on fourth-and-3, 37 yards to Luke Musgrave on a busted coverage following a fumble and 30 yards to Jayden Reed to set up a field goal before halftime.
Jordan Love (Photo by Jamie Sabau/USA Today Sports Images)
Love got off to a strong start. On the opening drive, he hit Doubs for 13 yards to convert a third-and-13. Later, on third-and-goal at the 8, Love connected with Doubs for the touchdown. Love had all day in the pocket and Doubs froze the Bears’ secondary at the top of the route before cutting inside and catching the pass in front of safety Eddie Jackson.
That would be Green Bay’s only score until Anders Carlson’s 52-yard field goal on the final play of the half. Love finished 7-of-16 for 81 yards with one touchdown and an 80.6 rating in the first half.
The 51-yard screen to Jones came on the opening series of the third quarter and helped increase the lead to 17-6. The touchdown to Jones made it 24-6.
After Chicago closed to 24-14 late in the third quarter, Love needed an answer and delivered. He threw a dart to Jayden Reed to pick up a critical third-and-8. That set up the pass to Musgrave in which Love dropped the snap but recovered and lofted a pass to the rookie tight end. That set up one of his best passes of the day, a 4-yard fade to Doubs against tight coverage by rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.
“I couldn’t be more proud of just his performance, his poise,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “There’s a big-time belief in that locker room for Jordan Love. I think the guys, they’re going to rally around him. They’re excited for him. They love him. They respect him. He comes to work every day, great attitude, great energy. I think you saw that today.”
Rodgers’ first NFL start also came against a division rival, though that was at home against the Minnesota Vikings on a Monday night. The Packers won 24-19.
Rodgers was efficient of not spectacular. He finished 18-of-22 passing for 178 yards and accounted for two touchdowns. The first touchdown pass went to fullback Korey Hall, a 1-yarder in the second quarter that gave Green Bay a 7-3 lead. The second touchdown was a 1-yard run that made it 24-12 with 6 minutes to go.
Atari Bigby’s interception of Tarvaris Jackson clinched the game, and Rodgers took a knee to run out the clock. His game-ending passer rating was 115.5.
Brett Favre also won his first career start, 17-3 against Pittsburgh in Week 4 of 1992.
“It feels great. It feels great,” Love said. “It’s definitely been a long time coming for me, three years as a backup. Just watching, learning and growing, seeing this team work, it feels good to be out there leading those guys and be out there playing with them finally and coming out with a dub [win] is just what we wanted.”
